Tiles of Hope

by Ann Maki

For a season, our household would reflect, ponder and look towards the year ahead and choose one word to guide our intentions and actions.  In the beginning of the year 2020, one word kept returning in our thoughts, prayers and lives. Hope.  What we didn’t know was that Covid was about to change our daily routines and reality and how much we would really need hope that year! 

To remind us of our word, we would use wooden tiles with letters on them and spell out the word and display it somewhere visible in our home.  As our kitchen is a main gathering spot, we put our tiles spelling ‘hope’ on the kitchen counter.  

Many days we emotionally and mentally lost our hope, but one day we literally lost the hope in our home.  The wooden letter tiles had fallen off and were missing. I looked in the mess of school items of our young children, art, snacks, dishes and all the stuff that ends up on a kitchen counter during the course of a day. 

Once I slowed down enough to start looking more closely, I found each letter and could put our physical reminder of hope back in a place for us to see.  Our hope was found and restored, physically, and mine was restored a bit spiritually that day too.  

This story in our home I share reminds me about our daily lives too. Hope can feel lost, out of sight and hard to find. Our days will vary, aspects may be out of our control, may be filled with challenges and joys. This world asks many questions, from adults and kids, without easy answers, and often without any clear paths. But when we can take a moment, breathe, pause, reflect and look closer, our hope is not gone, but just moved and hidden behind our cloud of focusing elsewhere.  

In our household’s time of focusing on hope, I had some quotes that I treasured in my heart.

“Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.” - Maya Angelou

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”  - Nelson Mandela 

“Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts.” - Holy bible, book of Romans 5:5 

Hope is a choice we can make as individuals. We can also make it as a household and even as a community. Holding on to our hope and not losing it too often takes practice. Sometimes we have to really search intently moment by moment. Having support can be very helpful.  In any season of life we are invited to not just wait but to also cultivate, to acquire or develop this growing of a hopeful spirit or attitude. Cultivating hope can include individual and communal spiritual practices, taking a walk outside and noticing the world around you, or caring for yourself in a way that benefits you and those around you.  Each day I ask myself, how can I help myself and others gather and share hope this day, even in a small way?   After all, we are all trying to figure life out, which is exactly why we need hope as individuals and as a world.

Ann Maki enjoys teaching and serves as a Lutheran Deaconess.